William Buck and Jason Peterson trust company chases $1.3m on Nicheliving share deal with Ronnie Michel-Elhaj

Nicheliving’s one-time float advisers are chasing $1.3 million on an unfortunately timed deal with the battling builder’s boss Ronnie Michel-Elhaj. Narbot Holdings, a trust company linked to accountants from William Buck, is pushing to be paid over an agreement allegedly struck in October 2023 to sell its 5.2 per cent stake in Nicheliving Holdings. Narbot claims in a Supreme Court writ that Diamond Development Alliance, a company directed by Mr Michel-Elhaj, should have paid it $1.3m for the shares on February 6 this year. The alleged settlement deadline came a month after Mr Michel-Elhaj and his long-time associate Paul Bitdorf gained creditor supporter for a deed of company arrangement over claims totalling more than $58m. The Nicheliving Holding directors had put the building company into administration on November 6 after months of speculation about its financial health. It is a far cry from 2017 when Nicheliving was planning an ASX float and issuing adviser shares to William Buck and terrace stockbroker Jason Peterson’s CPS Capital for their help. The float plans were stalled in late 2017 by a dispute with aJU Singaporean investor and fell over in 2018 amid dwindling support from potential new backers. A trust controlled by Narbot, whose directors included Mr Peterson from February 2019 to February 2020, were left holding a chunk of the 8.5 million-plus adviser shares issued during the float attempts. In its Supreme Court writ, Narbot said it had complied with the terms of the October 2023 agreement covering 4.9 million Nicheliving shares. This included delivering a duly executed share transfer form to a nominated law firm on January 19, 2024. Narbot said it had sent a default notice to Diamond Development Alliance on February 21 this year, giving it 10 days to stump up $1.3m. The buyer had allegedly not paid any of the share purchase price by the time the writ was filed on May 5.